Determining the Harvest Time of Camu-Camu [Myrciaria Dubia (H.B.K.)
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Scientia Horticulturae 186 (2015) 15–23 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Scientia Horticulturae journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scihorti Determining the harvest time of camu-camu [Myrciaria dubia (H.B.K.) McVaugh] using measured pre-harvest attributes a,∗ b,1 c Leandro Camargo Neves , Vanuza Xavier da Silva , Edvan Alves Chagas , d e Christinny Giselly Barcelar Lima , Sergio Ruffo Roberto a Federal University of Roraima (UFRR), Cauamé Campus, BR-174 Km 12, Monte Cristo, Boa Vista-RR, CEP: 69301-970, Brazil b Agronomy Graduate Program of the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR), Cauamé Campus, BR-174 Km 12, Monte Cristo, Boa Vista-RR, CEP: 69301-970, Brazil c Embrapa Roraima, BR 174, km 08, C.P. 133, Industrial district, CEP: 69301-970, Boa Vista-RR, Brazil d Embrapa Roraima, BR 174, km 08, C.P. 133, Industrial district, CEP: 69301-970, Boa Vista-RR, Brazil e Universidade Estadual de Londrina, UEL-CCA, Agronomy Departament, Campus Universitário, Jd. Perobal, PR - Brasil - Mailbox: 6001.,CEP: 86051990, Londrina, Brazil a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: The characterization of the physical, chemical, and physiological parameters of camu-camu fruit at vari- Received 30 October 2014 ous stages of development may help to determine the optimal harvest time of this fruit. Camu-camu fruits Received in revised form 28 January 2015 from a rural property in the municipality of Cantá/RR were marked and harvested at 53, 60, 67, 74, 81, 88, Accepted 5 February 2015 95, and 102 days after anthesis (DAA) during six seasons (years) of study. The following attributes were measured: fresh weight, diameter, total soluble solids (TSS), starch, titratable acidity (TA), the TSS/TA Keywords: ratio, total and reducing sugars, total and soluble pectins, pectic enzymes, vitamin C content, and the Maturity stages production of CO2 and ethylene. The combination of the absence of a climacteric peak in the respiratory Qualitative attributes pattern and the low and invariable production of ethylene during development indicates that camu-camu Ascorbic acid fruit is non-climacteric. The best harvest time for this fruit occurred between 88 and 95 days. During this Amazon fruit period, measured parameters such as coloration (85% and 100% red, respectively), high TSS:TA ratio, reduced TA, and high TSS, reducing sugar, soluble pectin, and vitamin C concentrations achieved their optimal. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction As mentioned, camu-camu fruits have the highest vitamin C content of all fruits studied to date (Alves et al., 2002; Rodrigues Camu-camu is an Amazonian fruit that deserves attention, in et al., 2001; Yuyama et al., 2002). Yuyama et al. (2002) measured general, for its content of vitamin C. Commercially, the recent intro- very high concentrations of vitamin C in fruits from a natural habi- duction of this fruit into the world market, especially in America tat in the eastern portion of Roraima, Brazil, ranging from 3571 mg and in centers of high consumption of fruits such as Europe and of ascorbic acid/100 g fresh pulp in the Rio Mau region to 6112 mg of Asia, has aroused great interest by local farmers. In this sense, ascorbic acid/100 g fresh pulp in the Rio Tacutu region. These sur- camu-camu has awakened interests of industrial sectors such as pass those measured in the acerola (1790 mg/100 g pulp), a fruit the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, and food industries due the natural that was previously considered to have the highest of vitamin C. bio compounds that may be the extracted from its skin and pulp Because the camu-camu is very high in vitamin C, a vitamin that and, possibly, with high antioxidant activities (Smiderle and Sousa, is not synthesized by the human body and must therefore be con- 2008). sumed in the diet, there is a strong demand for this fruit in the natural products market. The vitamin C content, similar to other phytochemical profiles of the camu-camu, is known to change throughout the fruit’s stages ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +55 95 3627 29 03; fax: +55 95 3627 29 03. of maturation. The occurrence of the ripening stage, in particular, E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L.C. Neves), [email protected] significantly affects the physical characteristics and chemical (V.X.d. Silva), [email protected] (E.A. Chagas), [email protected] composition of the camu-camu (Andrade et al., 1995). Camu-camu (S.R. Roberto). 1 fruits are green when unripe and turn red or purple during Tel.: +55 95 3627 29 03; fax: +55 95 3627 29 03. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2015.02.006 0304-4238/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 16 L.C. Neves et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 186 (2015) 15–23 maturation and ripening because of the presence of anthocyanins divided in two groups:(a) Destructive analysis: three replicates of (Zanatta et al., 2005). According to Yuyama et al. (2011), red 10 fruits weighing 92.0 ± 36.0 g; and, (b) Non-destructive analysis: camu-camu fruits have greater vitamin C, but other studies have likewise, approximately 90 fruits (weighing 828.8 ± 319.0 g were reported higher concentrations in unripe fruits (Alves et al., 2002). divided into three replicates of 30 fruits for the measurement of This discrepancy is the main obstacle to establishing the commer- CO2 and ethylene production, and these fruits were kept intact until cial production of camu-camu in Brazil because numerous small the end of the experiment. producers use skin color as the only indicator for determining the Peels and pulps, without seeds, from each replicate, were mixed optimal time of harvest. Notably, the timing of the harvest can be and crushed to obtain a commingled mass of the whole fruit. Only critical for maintaining high concentrations of vitamin C and other for the vitamin C analysis that peel and pulp were set apart and biomolecules. measured separately. The ideal ripening stage for harvesting camu-camu can be All the evaluations were performed weekly and, measured no determined by evaluating maturation and ripening curves that more than 50 ± 5 min after each specifically harvest time. Physical consider chemical and physical changes, such as weight loss and measurements, total soluble solids content, and titratable acidity, changes in the total soluble solids, titratable acidity, and vitamin as well as the collect and analysis of gases (CO2 and ethylene), C (Giovannoni, 2004). To produce these curves, physical, chemical, were performed immediately after each harvest. For the other and physiological parameters of the fruit are measured throughout analysis, were prepared samples (25–50 g of each replicate) that ◦ their development (Andrade et al., 1995). were frozen at −40 C. The frozen samples were used to measure The aim of the present study was to characterize the physi- the starch, total and reducing sugars, total soluble pectins, and cal, chemical, physico-chemical, and physiological parameters of pectic enzymes for each period. About 20 g of each replicate were ◦ camu-camu fruits during various stages of development to deter- lyophilized at 200 m Hg and −40 C and stored in a freezer for mine the ideal harvest time of camu-camu in the state of Roraima. purposes of preservation. Analyses of vitamin C concentrations were performed in the Plant Bioactive and Bioprocessing Research Laboratory TAMU/USA. 2. Materials and methods The following analyses were performed in all treatments (fresh fruits): The fruits used in this experiment were harvested during six seasons (years) of study from a rural property located in the county/state of Cantá/Roraima (RR), near one of the Branco river, 2.1. Fresh pulp (g) 60 km from Boa Vista (the state capital). To obtain fruits from the entire camu-camu population, approxi- The mass of fresh pulp was measured by weighing 10 fruits (ran- mately 2000 inflorescences from 40 plants (representing 90% of the domly chosen) from each replicate and dividing the total weight by plants in the area) were marked. However, because a single inflo- the number of fruits (10), thereby obtaining the mean of individual rescence can contain materials at various stages, buds at later stages fresh weight. (developing ovaries) and earlier stages (young buds that were only a few days old) were removed when necessary, thereby leaving only 2.2. Polar and equatorial diameter (mm) the buds at the previously described stage of interest. These floral buds were marked with colored wire and a label containing the date A digital caliper was used to measure the polar and equatorial and an ID number was attached. The floral buds were monitored diameters of 10 fruits per replicate. The equatorial diameter was weekly from the date of marking until the start of fruit harvesting. measured horizontally, and the polar diameter was measured ver- Fruits were harvested every seven days, starting from the anthe- tically from pole to pole using the location of the stem cavity as a sis of the inflorescences (Fig. 1). Fruits were harvested at eight time reference point. points (53, 60, 67, 74, 81, 88, 95, and 102 days after anthesis–DAA). Approximately 120 fruits, representative of the entire popula- 2.3. CO2 and ethylene production tion, were collected at each harvest. On the day of the harvest, the fruits were placed in plastic pots inside Styrofoam boxes CO2 and ethylene production analyses were performed accord- containing ice and then transported to the Laboratory of Food ing to the methods described by Prill et al. (2012). Briefly, 10 Technology–UFRR and; care was taken to avoid direct contact fruits weighing 92 ± 35.54 g (approximately 0.1 kg per replicate) ◦ between the fruit and the ice.